


Renewed Redemption

by shenala



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, M/M, Natasha Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 16:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18077345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shenala/pseuds/shenala
Summary: Prompt: I think you gave me one too many chances at redeeming myself."Natasha!""Nat, will you just stop for a second?!""Jesus Christ, Romanoff, come on!"It wasn't that she couldn't hear Clint's pleas as he ran after her on their return to the Tower, after all, she wasn't the deaf one in this relationship, it was more that she didn't want to hear him. She didn't want to listen to him absolve her of her sins and tell her that everything would be okay. Not this time.





	Renewed Redemption

"Natasha!"  
"Nat, will you just stop for a second?!"  
"Jesus Christ, Romanoff, come on!"

It wasn't that she couldn't hear Clint's pleas as he ran after her on their return to the Tower, after all, she wasn't the deaf one in this relationship, it was more that she didn't want to hear him. She didn't want to listen to him absolve her of her sins and tell her that everything would be okay. Not this time.

There was no hesitation in her steps as she walked straight through the floor the pair of them shared and into the bedroom. From there it was one simple movement that whipped her go-bag from underneath the bed and another that slid one of her favourite knives from under her pillow.

Somewhere distant in her mind she was aware of a flickering feeling of gratitude that they'd just come from a mission as it saved her the trouble of suiting up or grabbing the rest of her extensive arsenal. But mostly her head was filled with a sort of buzzing, one she couldn't make sense of and that alone was enough to chill her blood in fear.

As she turned to leave the room, Natasha found the doorway blocked, and uttered her first words since their mission, "move".

The obstacle refused to budge and instead stepped closer, prompting her to drop into a defensive stance, and even through her panic-fogged senses, she didn't miss the look of hurt that passed across the man's face in response.

A heavy sigh broke the air between them, followed by a whisper spoken like a prayer, "I'm sorry about this Nat."

There was barely enough time to even acknowledge the drawn back fist before it was smashing into the side of her skull, and then she was falling back into nothingness.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Sometime later, she slowly became aware of her surroundings once more. First, it was the feel of soft sheets beneath her skin; Clint must've removed her uniform. Then it was the unmistakable form of the man himself, pressed into a warm, solid line down her side, one hand carding through her red hair. Finally, the words filtered through and it took only a few seconds to recognise them as a song being quietly crooned.

Flickering her eyes open their green immediately found the answering blue, and she was barely aware of her intention to speak before her voice broke with disuse, "Clint?"

"Hey Tasha, you back now?"

"What happened? Wait, did you hit me?!"

"Yeah, I did, figured it worked when I was out of my mind so it might work on you too."

The earlier events suddenly flooded back into her mind, forcing her to snap upright on the bed as she gasped, "I have to go."

Before she could make any further moves a strong arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her back against the solid planes of Clint's chest as his lips found purchase next to her ear, "You're not going anywhere little spider."

Once he was satisfied no further escape attempts were going to be immediately forthcoming, one hand reached up to resume it's earlier task of threading through her scarlet strands. "Now, you gonna tell me what this is all about or do I have to work it out myself?"

Silence.

"Alright, making me work for it? Okay. Well, here's what I think happened - stop wriggling woman - I think that you got caught up in the mission and you made a mistake - no, you can wait until I'm finished before you interrupt - that's what it was Nat, a mistake, we all make them, even you. This isn't the Red Room love, nobody's going to punish you for not being perfect 24/7."

The need to speak broke through her shame, forcing the words up her throat, "but I shot him, Clint! I shot James! How will he ever forgive me? How will Steve ever forgive me?" Here her voice broke as she surrendered to the internal anguish that wrung tears from her eyes and rattled her chest with heaving sobs.

With soothing noises Clint simply rode it out with her, a hand rubbing calming circles onto the base of her spine as kisses were pressed to her crown.

Once the cries began to quiet, he spoke again, "Now listen to me Natalia Alianovna Romanova, Bucky is fine. Hey, don't interrupt this time, okay? He's fine. It was a clean shot, straight through and he's already scabbing over nicely. Super-soldier remember? And yeah, he's pissed but that's probably more because he has to deal with Steve being a mother hen for a few days. And Steve will calm down and understand. They both love you Tasha, we all do."

With a near-frantic shake of her head, Natasha argued, "No, I always do this. I hurt the people I care about. People who get close to me aren't safe. I think you gave me one too many chances at redeeming myself, Clint."

Placing his hands either side of her face to force sustained eye-contact, Clint bled sincerity through his gaze as he spoke, slowly and with a firmness that denied any argument, "There's no such thing as too many chances where you're concerned. Yeah, you've got red in your ledger. Everyone in this building has. But do you ever actually look at how much of that debt you've paid? Focus on the good that you do Nat, that we all do together as a team. We don't always get it right, we're human, well except Thor, but we do our best and we do it for the right reasons. You made a mistake, there's no lasting harm done, that's it."

Her mouth had barely opened to form some argument she hadn't even thought of yet before he was shushing her again, "Nope, not gonna hear it, Tasha. We're going to order pizza, crack open the vodka and watch people on tv make terrible home renovating decisions, okay?"

At her returning nod, Clint scooped her up into his arms, cradling her close as though she were the most precious thing he'd ever held as he walked out into their living room, before gently depositing her on the sofa and covering her in a swathe of their softest blankets.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a couple of hours later when the elevator dinged to announce that they had a visitor and Natasha eyed the doors with open apprehension.

That swiftly morphed to stone cold fear as not one, but two, super-soldiers stepped out, the blonde holding the slightly smaller brunette close with a protective arm.

Her worry, in turn, turned to confusion as Bucky stepped away from Steve with a bright smile and made his way over to the sofa before sitting down next to her and immediately wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her close.

"It's okay Natalia, I'm fine. You just need to spend more time at the shooting range with me and Clint huh?" he teased with a grin.

Relief swept through her body as he spoke, but there was still a ball of tension as she turned her gaze to Steve, who had been standing still and silent thus far.

But when his eyes met hers, that gentle smile that had calmed her so many times before broke out and he too moved to the sofa, settling to kneel in front of her and clasp one of her hands into both of his own. "Hey, Nat. I'm not angry, I promise. I was worried on the jet, I was harder on you than I wanted to be, but then you know I'm not always rational when it comes to this jerk."

"Punk" came the automatic return, pulling a laugh from Natasha as she looked between the three men surrounding her with wide eyes.

"It won't happen again" she swore, her features once again solemn with sincerity.

With a snort, Clint pushed pizza towards Steve and Bucky before adding, "well, if in doubt shoot the ones you can't kill, I guess."

"Not funny, Clint" came from the redhead, while the brunette exclaimed "watch it, birdbrain!" and the blonde chuckled "I'd appreciate it if you aimed at the shield if you must shoot me", before narrowing his eyes in a glare at his partner who had added, "yeah that's what Peggy did."

  
As Natasha and Clint settled back into their cocoon of blankets, legs tangled together and heads resting upon each other, the second couple moved to the other sofa with Steve sitting at one end and Bucky spreading out so that he could lay his head in Steve's lap before pulling a blanket over himself.

Taking in the cosy, domestic scene Natasha was struck by the stark (no pun intended, she smirked to herself) contrast compared to the terror she'd been in just a few hours earlier, and as she nestled closer to the man next to her she actually found herself wondering if maybe Clint was right, maybe she should start crossing out some of that red in her ledger and marking it as paid.


End file.
